


Claws of Love and Other Ballads

by Merlin Missy (mtgat)



Category: Hellboy (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Red Is Fifteen, Temper Tantrums, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 01:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5519663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtgat/pseuds/Merlin%20Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Father has told him he can't go out tonight. This is not fair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claws of Love and Other Ballads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grue/gifts).



It wasn't fair!

He slammed the door to his room, wishing he had a better door to slam. Red stepped over two cats and removed another from the bed before flinging himself in a proper sulk against his rumpled blankets.

Totally. Totally not fair.

Everyone else, okay everyone named Liz, got to leave this stupid place now and then. Liz got to walk the city streets and see the world and take her pictures. Red had to stay here, hidden out of sight, even when all he wanted was to go out to one little concert, one time.

Not! Fair!

"I'll bring you a t-shirt," Liz had said, pecking him on the cheek.

Red hadn't even watched her go on the monitors. He had tried to walk out his normal back door, the one Father hadn't known about. The one he'd _thought_ Father didn't know about.

The back exit had been locked. Father had joined him, looking at the heavy locks. "You are not to go out. The B.P.R.D. is still working on covering up your last appearance. You are not in a calm frame of mind. You will do something rash and you will be seen. "

"I would be in a calm frame of mind if you'd let me out now and then!" Red had shouted, and a lot more besides before storming off to his room.

An orange tom nuzzled the side of his head where his face was buried in the blanket. Red went to bat the cat away and instead began petting him. "Yeah, boy. I know."

An hour later and still grumpy, he came out of his room and went to bug Abe. "I hate him!"

"You don't hate him," Abe said, sounding annoyingly sensible. "Turn the page, will you?"

Red turned the page of Abe's book for him with bad grace. "You never get to go anywhere. Why aren't you mad?"

"I could tell you I've evolved beyond anger."

"Ha!"

Abe's weird face broke into a rare grin. "Instead, I will say I have learned there's no point in raging against the needs of the world."

"Yeah, what do you know? You live in a fish tank!" Red turned away.

"You're jealous that Liz can go and you can't," Abe said behind him. "What you should try to see is that she's jealous of your ability not to burst into flames every time you get annoyed at losing at Scrabble again."

"Hey! 'Fraggin' is so a word!"

"I believe you," said Abe. "However, the Scrabble Dictionary disagrees. I won fair and square."

Red said a couple of words that weren't in the Scrabble Dictionary and stomped off. He'd just remembered another exit he was positive Father didn't know about. His mood improved as he considered how he'd get out and catch a ride to the amphitheater, how he'd find Liz in the crowd. With a bandanna and a jacket, and a lot of dark, Red figured he could pass for just another fan except to her.

He'd tap her on the shoulder and say, "Hey, Liz," and she'd look at him and be so impressed.

Father had found his second exit. An alarmed set of chains covered the access panel, which in additional insult, had been sealed shut with large bolts. "Authorized Access Only."

Red shouted something unintelligible to the ceiling.

NOT! FAIR!

He heard Father approach him, heard the unsteady steps of someone who wasn't entirely sure Red wasn't about to rip off his head.

"I told you," Father said in his annoying calm voice. "You can't go out tonight."

"You never let me do what I want!"

"No. I only let you do what is best."

Red screamed again, and huffed past Father, gaining speed as he ran back to his room again.

**NOT!**

**FAIR!**

* * *

He woke up at a weird hour, his neck all cramped up from having shoved his head against his own wall. A glance around his room suggested he'd been even angrier than he'd thought, and who was gonna clean up this giant mess? Oh yeah. Him.

The knock that had woken him up came again. Red grumbled and unlocked the door.

Liz stood outside. She glanced around his disaster of a bedroom, and sighed. She didn't sigh too much, though. Someone who regularly set their own sheets on fire didn't have room to judge. That was one of the reasons he liked her.

"The concert was great," she said, stepping inside. Three cats instantly made best friends with the legs of her jeans.

"I'll bet," he said, flinging himself down into his chair. "Rub it in, why don't you?"

"They did 'Claws of Love' as the finale." That was his favorite song.

"You're torturing me, Liz."

"So I taped it." She pulled out her mini tape recorder and placed it on his side table. "I got as much as I could of the show. Three tapes." The other two tapes joined the recorder. "They didn't have any t-shirts in your size by the time I got to the booth."

"Yeah. No one makes them in Gigantic Arm these days," Red said, letting himself eye the tapes. He wasn't ready to say thanks yet.

"Anyway, I'm too wound up. I was going to see if Blue wanted to get into a game of Scrabble or something. You want to join us?"

"Nah."

"You can't stay mad. 'Fraggin' isn't in the dictionary."

"Yeah, but Abe's the only one who spends all his time _reading_ the dictionary."

"Nothing's stopping you except you," Liz said, sounding just like Abe. Red glared at her and saw the mischievous grin on her face.

"Go play. I'll be out later, maybe." She shrugged. As she got to the door, Red muttered, "Thanks for taping the show."

"You're welcome. If you want to play something later, you know where we'll be."

"Yeah, yeah. In linguistic nerd heaven."

He waited until Liz had shut the door behind her, then grabbed her tape recorder. The tape was already rewound. He hit Play. The guitar riffs at the beginning of 'Soul Crusher' blared from the tiny speaker until he plugged the line into his speaker. Red forced the frown to stay on his face through 'Flay My Life' and 'Your Heart.' Well before the scorching chords of 'Claws of Love,' Red started smiling.

He threw himself into his chair as he listened. Then he grabbed a book from the shelf and started flipping through the dictionary.


End file.
